In the meantime, this complexity and the difficulty in explaining variable annuities to consumers has heavily slanted sales toward expensive, commission-based channels more comfortable with products that are “sold, not bought.” Yet, as has been the historic trend for other financial products and services, demand for simpler, more transparent annuity products that encourage value shopping will be essential in driving future growth. This should favor easy-to-understand, fee-based product designs that investors buy rather than commission-based products agents must sell.

With the erosion of defined benefit pension plans and uncertainty around the future of Social Security, the current workforce must find new ways to responsibly manage their income into and through retirement.

Flood Insurance; The 2018 Market Opportunity;The U.S. insurance industry is actively seeking new opportunities for growth in a challenging market by identifying untapped customer needs. The potential flood market is over five times the size of the most often mentioned new market, cyber insurance.

The U.S. insurance industry is actively seeking new opportunities for growth in a challenging market by identifying untapped customer needs. The potential flood market is over five times the size of the most often mentioned new market, cyber insurance

Greater access to flood data and loss results and more reliable exposure modeling are enhancing the flood (re)insurance marketplace

Several developments are helping carriers understand and monitor aggregation

A year marked by generally benign loss experience and few large catastrophe events meant that rates continued to remain positive for buyers in the Asia Pacific region throughout 2017. At the same time, the trend for steady growth in limit purchased continued. Much of the new limit purchased tends to be at the top of programs, and this feeds through to lower overall average rates on line (ROL), which is also reflected in the indices.

There are indications that new A.M. Best Stochastic Based BCAR factor assignments may require more capital for companies entering a new line of business than for established writers growing in that line

Companies will be under extra pressure to choose growth strategies carefully because of potential capital pressures from A.M. Best and their potential for low returns due to the extended soft positions of many markets

With current capital positions evaluated, robust and current market insight is critical to accurately assess potential growth areas

1. Just Say “Know” to Insurtech; Insurtech’s impact on the insurance industry is surging, reminding us of the influence that technological change and growth bring to the modern consumer and business landscapes and individual industries - the development of fintech within financial services being an example.

4. Understanding Systemic Cyber Risk; Insights Through Pandemic Behavior; Today, through air travel, a carrier of MERS or Ebola can cross the ocean in less than a day, board a crowded subway train and potentially infect hundreds of people. Containment of a pandemic outbreak begins upon discovery, similar to the way in which forensics and network restoration efforts can begin once a cyber breach is identified. According to Platt, the longer the lag until discovery, the more difficult containment and treatment will be, whether it is a biological or cyber event.

5. Asia Pacific Catastrophe Report 2017: Executive Summary: Losses; Insured losses in Australia and New Zealand were the largest events. The region was also impacted by floods in China, India and Thailand and an earthquake in China. Once again, flood was a major contributor to economic losses in the region, but often in areas where insurance penetration was limited. Flood is difficult for (re)insurers to model, but Guy Carpenter has made significant steps to help clients deal with the problems.